Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre & Hummus

Ingredients

For hummus

• 4 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted
• 2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans chick-peas, rinsed
• 1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup stirred tahini (Middle Eastern sesame paste)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup water

• Garnish: 160 small fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• pitas
• olive oil

 

Preparation

Toast pitas:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Halve pitas horizontally and stir together oil and paprika. Brush rough sides of pitas with paprika oil and season with salt. Cut each pita round into 8 wedges and bake in single layers on a large baking sheet in middle of oven 10 minutes, or until crisp. 

Hummus:
Finely grind cumin seeds in an electric coffee/spice grinder. Purée chick-peas in a food processor with cumin, garlic, parsley, tahini, lemon juice, and salt and add enough water to make smooth.

We had this during an editing and post-it-ing session on the terrace of the Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre.